PCIn this game, like the others in the trilogy, the player is a disembodied hand, tasked to raise Norns, a virtual species who depend on the hand for guidance. This guidance is bestowed by spanking or tickling your Norn.
Story
Creatures 3 takes place after the Shee, an intelligent, perhaps too intelligent race of peoples, which, until recently had never been space fairing, left Albia, a 2D, cylindrical planet, in search of a more spherical world to make home. The Shee, learning that the Grendel Mother had snuck aboard, abandoned the ship leaving behind the Norns and Ettons. It is up to the player to nurture, and protect the Norns.
CAOS
The Creatures 3 engine used a propitiatory programming code called CAOS. Every thing in the world was given a classifier consisting of a family, genus and species, such as 4.1.0 (Norns), or 2.11.1 (Carrots). The first number was the Family and discribed certain properties of the object. The genus further described the properties, and would determine the word the Creature would use to describe the object if any, such as the 4.1.0; 4.1 being the word Norns, and 2.11 being the word Food.
Hold SHIFT + CTRL + C to open the CAOS Command window in game.
| CAOS Command | Effect |
|---|---|
| file oope 1 "caos.html" 0 dbg: html 0 file oclo | Exports a document listing all CAOS commands |
| setv game "scared" 1 meta 6 1 1 1 | Runs the space invader game |
| enum 4 0 0 vocb next | Teaches all Creatures in the world all words. |
| targ norn dead | Kills the selected Norn |
Areas
Norn Terrarium
The Norn Terrarium is where the player will start their adventure. The Ecosystem is fairly balanced although with longer game plays some animal species will die off. If this happens the seed bank will add more of whatever species has perished. Unfortunately the seed bank can not automatically add pond animals with out help from the player. This leads to problems when the Bass population run low or are extinguished.
Jungle Terrarium
This ecosystem is connected via door to the Norn Terrarium. It is this terrarium that is the most dangerous for the Norns. This ecosystem holds traps, disease, piranhas, and perhaps worst of all, the Grendels. There is no way, aside from an Agent(add on), to stop the Grendel mother from laying eggs.
Desert Terrarium
The Desert Terrarium is home to the Ettins. The seed bank is positioned in an odd way, that dispenses the seeds and animals under the desert. This dose not turn into much of a problem, and the ecosystem can still survive, if not thrive.
Crypt
The Crypt entrance door is hidden on a unsuspecting grave, it is a small room that holds a place for you to record your creatures history.
Learning Room
This room contains only the Learning Machine, a Machine that teaches the words your Norns will need to communicate with you.
DLC
There were several Norns breeds available for download on the Creatures Mall. The Zebra Norn, Fallow Norn, Magma Norn, Siamese Norn, Astro Norn, and Harlequin Norns were skins. The Bondi, Treehugger, Toxic, and Hardman Norn were all new species with new genes, and new agents. there was also a Grendel species, the Banshee Grendel, with new genes, and new agents.
Docking Station
Creatures Docking Station, a standalone, free, expansion, was released late after release of Creatures 3. It allowed owners of Creatures 3 to, when starting a new world, "Dock" the two ships, creating a even bigger world. Owners with out Creatures 3 could still play Docking Station, but without the option to "Dock". Docking station was about 1/3 the size of Creatures 3.
